This invention relates in general to a radio frequency (xe2x80x9cRFxe2x80x9d) shielded and acoustically insulated door for shielding enclosures, and more particularly to a RF shielded and acoustically insulated door which improves the attenuation characteristics of the RF shielded room and improves the acoustic insulation of equipment therein.
The power of magnetic resonance imaging (xe2x80x9cMRIxe2x80x9d) equipment is continually increasing to meet the demand in the medical community for better and faster images. However, as the power of MRI equipment increases, an increased amount or level of audible noise is generated due, in part, to the coil assembly of the MRI equipment. As a result, the level of noise may increase to the extent that it exceeds health and safety regulatory and industry standards which seek to protect the worker from increased noise levels. Such MRI equipment must, therefore, be properly contained within a RF shielded and acoustically insulated room to protect the MRI equipment from stray electromagnetic radiation and to protect the medical staff or operators of the equipment from continuous undesirable noise levels.
An important feature of the RF shielded and acoustically insulated room is the door. While having to fulfill its primary task of shielding RF fields and insulating noise, the door must also be easy to operate, durable and aesthetically pleasing to operators and patients. Attempts have been made to address the problem of providing a door which acts to shield RF fields and insulate noise without compromising its performance. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,206 to Industrial Acoustics Company, Inc. is directed to a room that is RF shielded and acoustically insulated. The room includes a door that is acoustically sealed by acoustic seals associated the door frame.
It is desirable to provide improved RF shielded and acoustically insulated doors which have higher attenuation characteristics and better noise insulation capabilities.
The present invention provides an improved door construction for a RF shielded and acoustically insulated room. In general, the door includes a door frame and door panel that is pivotally and conductively connected to the door frame. The door panel includes outer sections and a noise absorbing material that is disposed between the outer sections such that the door panel provides greater acoustic insulation. The acoustic insulating properties of the door panel are further enhanced by a noise insulating gap.
The frame includes a frame noise absorbing material and a frame perforated region. The frame perforated region includes a number of apertures or perforations that are adjacent to the frame noise absorbing material for enabling sound to more easily pass through this region and be absorbed by the noise absorbing material.
The coaction between the acoustically insulating properties of the door frame and door panel effectively enhance the overall acoustic insulating capabilities of the door.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a RF shielded and acoustically insulated door for a RF shielded room.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts, elements or components.